German energy giant Eon have repeatedly put off making a decision as to whether to build a new coal power station at Kingsnorth. Now they’re saying their plans are put off indefinitely, citing the recession as a concern. Couldn’t have anything to do with those pesky activists, could it?

Eon’s head office has been invaded; they were forced to abandon their graduate recruitment drive last year after protests at several campuses; Kingsnorth’s cooling towers have been damaged by Greenpeace; last year a weeklong camp was held there by the Camp For Climate Action (joined by some of us from Cornwall), during which activists tried to break in by land and by boat; last Fossil Fools Day someone snuck in all on their own and pressed the big red off button!

It’s very likely that Kingsnorth will never be built. Additionally, DongEnergy announced today that they are dropping plans to build a new coal power station at Hunterston in Scotland.

We can’t afford to forget tho, that there are still plans to build at least 5 other coal plants around the country – the EU are widely expected to grant funding for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration plant at Hatfield (near Doncaster). Aside from the fact that “capturing” emissions and “storing” them under the ground sounds pretty dodgy, the technology won’t be commercially available for at least 20 years, yet it’s being used as an excuse to press ahead with new coal. We don’t have time to wait for CCS – we need to drastically cut emissions now.

This is why we need to stop coal, and the decision on Kingsnorth shows that we can do it. We’ve got a big job ahead of us – but, from the suffragettes to the civil rights movement, throughout history changes have been made by ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

October 17 and 18 will see hundreds of people descending on a Ratcliffe-on-soar coal power station in Notts. Some of us from KAN! will be travelling up from Cornwall. Join us as we shut it down and take back our future.

Kernow Action Now! (KAN!) is a new, non-hierarchical, consensus-based group that supports, promotes and encourages all forms of direct action to confront, stop and eventually reverse the destruction of our communities and the planet.

We aim to encourage and facilitate self-determination in our communities rather than a reliance on the state or charity.

We want to encourage a shift to a low-carbon, people centred future where wealth is measured by our relationships to each other and the
environment instead of by human and resource exploitation.

We meet at 7pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month

Next meeting is on 15 September at The ‘Front, Custom House Quay, Falmouth If you want to get involved or want to find out more, come to one of our meetings or email kernowaction@gmail.com.